Center for a New American Security

A Haaretz opinion piece that

A Haaretz opinion piece that Exum might want to read :http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/memo-to-the-marchers-1.377103

"One-sixth of the government budget goes to defense, and that fraction is creeping up to incorporate new weapons systems. Social services are inevitably trimmed. Moreover, the ratio of national debt to GDP is stuck at around 75-80 percent, not unmanageable as long as interest rates remain low and growth rates remain high, say, 4-5 percent a year. But if Israel were to enter periods of lower growth − as would be inescapable with greater political isolation, that is, with Israeli start-ups facing new obstacles to building relationships with European corporations − it would be impossible to outpace the social tensions we now see or the discontent in the Israeli-Arab community. "

In reality it is about stopping the growth of military spending, which has also been increasing in the US.

Is it really wrong to try and reduce military spending when much of it is wasted on "adventures" and gadgetry? For the US I mean how many billions are being spent in Libya, where we are exploding million dollar missiles ? In Israel they are spending $50,000 per Iron Dome missile to counter Qassam rockets, that cost around $100.

Israel is full of socialist,

Israel is full of socialist, even Marxist leaning youth groups. Armed with little ability of critical thinking and little actual facts about the hardships of life in Israel in the 60s, youths are raised to aspire to a rosy (false) past where everyone lived in harmony (except of course arabs and mizrahim) and economical equality (because everyone were dirt poor, which makes it a no brainer).
Israel, a land ripe with government run monopolies, corrupt unions and several major cartels and tycoons, is often labeled either "capitalist" or "swine-like capitalist", without anyone standing corrected.

While the youth movements empower many youths with positive emotions, entrepreneurship and willingness to "change the world", they also rob them of any understanding of basic economy. Try talking to some of the leftist protesters. They will tell you that in a state where land is government owned, divided and planned by a shoddy state run bureaucracy, the sky-rocketing house prices are a result of "capitalist" policies.

It's almost scary.

"In Israel they are spending

"In Israel they are spending $50,000 per Iron Dome missile to counter Qassam rockets, that cost around $100."

This is a bogus argument but a recurring one that you see whenever advanced technology is used in relation to a low-tech threat. The assumption is that the benefit gained from that $50,000 missile is only $100, therefore a net gain of -$49,900. But that's not benefit that the missile seeks to achieve.

The real cost-benefit analysis is on the lives saved by that $50,000 missile, not the rocket it is shooting down. The missile exists not for the rocket but for the 6-year old kid who's too scared to use the bathroom because they know that when the alarm goes off they only have few seconds to get to the shelter before the rocket hits. So the real calculus is the cost of the lives lost to the rockets, not the price of the rockets. (However, from HZ or HAMAS's point of veiw, the cost benefit does include the cost of the lives AND the cost of the missiles.)

So what is the life of an Israeli citizen worth? Is it less than $50,000? If so, then you have a point, those missiles cost way too much for the lives they are saving. But if an Israeli's life is arguably worth more than $50,000, then you are actually saving money on the deal.

"Republican Party refuses to

"Republican Party refuses to ever raise taxes..."

Ever??? Reagan 1982 - largest in History to that point. He was promised 3 dollars in cuts for every one in tax increase. Democrats double crossed him, it never happened. He never forgot that, nor do the Republicans with their elephantine memories. Revenues increase in the 80's, but it is spent.

Bush I 1990 - he increased taxes against his pledge. Lost the election over it. Used against him by Buchanan and Clinton.

July 2011: Speaker Boehner and the Repub leadership have a deal in place with the President to close Corporate Loopholes and to broaden the tax base. The close loopholes in particular are a Corporate Tax increase .
BHO changes the deal at the last moment to ask for 400 Billion more in new taxes (from where?) and Boehner - incensed that he changed the deal at the 11th hour walks away. Let's also remember the Repubs crushed the 2010 elections in Congress but also the States by in part taking a pledge not to raise taxes and to support a balanced budget amendment.

Most conservative people I

Most conservative people I know, and a good chunk of Tea Party people I know, realize deep down that some kind of money has to be gleaned from taxpayers to close the gap. The problem is that the people simply do not believe that the Congress and President are capable of stewarding the money to pay down the debt. The widespread belief is they will spend it the moment it touches their hands.

I keep seeing Washington people talk about how dysfunctional the system is. It never seems to occur to them that the system might be just fine and that its meant to deny them things that they cannot treat responsibly.

I think the Republicans simply lack imagination. If I were them, I would be doing signs and commercials and Youtube mixes with my own heretical "balanced" approach: TAX NON-PROFITS!!!!!!! Harvard endowment here we come!!

Dr. Exum, I've always thought

Dr. Exum,

I've always thought a better domestic comparison might be between the anti-war movement that peaked during the Bush administration (and at the height of the Iraq War), and the Tea Party.

Both movements represented a larger populist frustration with policy (foreign for one, domestic for the other), was genuinely grass-roots but rooted more strongly with one party over the other, attracted political hangers-on who tried to manage the movements for DC political partisan purposes (say that three times fast), and attracted a small fringe of kooks that opponents tried to portray as the entire movement.

In other words, lots of everyday people really were frustrated with the conduct of the war and lots ov everyday people are genuinely frustrated with DC policies and what they view as wasteful spending.

Also, you might like this post if you have time to screen it:

http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/23771.html

Some of us aren't partisan about this, we've just seen the political actors in, well, action locally.

Take care and be well.

Israeli protesters are

Israeli protesters are focusing more and more on settlements and the ultra-orthodox

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/israels-3-week-old-cost-...

I believe this comparison

I believe this comparison misses a key difference between the Israeli protesters and the tea party. The tent city protests are not about slashing spending, but a demand for government programs to stem the balooning disparity between the tycoons and the working and middle classes. in other words, they are responding to a problem Similar to one in the United States with a proposed plan of action that is completely missing from our discourse and the opposite of what the tea party advocates. The "demands" of the protest leaders make clear that society has debts to the poor and working class that must be paid, not defaulted on.

Ya Ha Ha Fnord. They just

Ya Ha Ha Fnord. They just burnt out small shopkeepers and their own futures. The real "capitalists" with the mega bucks will simply take their money and JOBS where it's appreciated, and where the State can keep order.

It's a crisis created by decades of the dole combined with endless you are licensed to steal indoctrination by the Left.
It's a crisis created by the Left, riots spawned by the Left, but paid for by the people who just got burnt out.

If you want to know what this gains the decent working poor - who will be working much less - you can look to modern day Newark NJ, Watts, East LA, any number of places in the States that embraced nihilism and looting. It took working poor communities to the real ghetto, destroyed any hope of rising into the middle class, and they have yet to recover.

It also bred a very hard attitude - well that and about 25 years of street crime - amongst the still Hard working class. When the LA riots happened if the rioters went down the wrong street, they were confronted by Korean shopkeepers firing assault rifles over their heads (mostly*). And the LA Hollywoodland Liberals? Plenty of cases of then standing outside in the Streets of Beverly Hills with same assault rifles. The twits and feedback from London seem to indicate the people seen as Heroes and Liberators from chaos are the vigilantes. Baseball bats and steel batons selling like hot cakes.

Try this shit in America and we've got something for you. As far as the punks - they only make progress when they are up against the Helpless Urban faggot hipsters (a statement of character - not sexual preference) and franchise shopkeepers who aren't defending their own property working as low paid wage earners. Meet the people with something to defend - we got something for you. AND OUR COPS WHO COME FROM US DON'T SEE A THING.

Seems they want a lot of

Seems they want a lot of things....and it seems the State has the usual Socialist Oligarchy in possession of most of those things...along with their usual crony State Capitalists Billionaires. Not unlike the USG's and the Beltwaysta's incestuous relationships with Wall Street and the likes of Soro's and Buffet.

"The reasons for this state of affairs are many and not all fit neatly into the protesters’ narrative. More than 90 per cent of land in Israeli is still in the public domain – a key reason, some analysts say, for the dearth of cheap housing. The lack of competition is another important factor: in sectors such as banking and retail, the Israeli market is simply too small and isolated to attract foreign companies. Competition is further undermined by the oligopolistic structure of the Israeli economy, which is dominated by a handful of sprawling family-controlled conglomerates."

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/6b9d9c08-c299-11e0-9ede-00144feabdc0.html...

Being former Tier 1 and Tier

Being former Tier 1 and Tier 2 guys unfortunately didn't help those dudes in Fallujah. When things go to shit on a massive scale, bodyguards will only get you so far. Sure, they're good for preventing assasinations, but a crowd will still scarf you up. Also, the Praetorian Guard was known for occasionally biting off the hand that fed it.

Elf, nice to see you joining

Elf, nice to see you joining the effort! But about the 'eradication' thingy. Tell me again, what's that about?

August 6, 2011 U.S. Widens

August 6, 2011

U.S. Widens Role in Battle Against Mexican Drug Cartels

By GINGER THOMPSON

New York Times

WASHINGTON — The United States is expanding its role in Mexico’s bloody fight against drug trafficking organizations, sending new C.I.A. operatives and retired military personnel to the country and considering plans to deploy private security contractors in hopes of turning around a multibillion-dollar effort that so far has shown few results.

In recent weeks, small numbers of C.I.A. operatives and American civilian military employees have been posted at a Mexican military base, where, for the first time, security officials from both countries work side by side in collecting information about drug cartels and helping plan operations. Officials are also looking into embedding a team of American contractors inside a specially vetted Mexican counternarcotics police unit.

Officials on both sides of the border say the new efforts have been devised to get around Mexican laws that prohibit foreign military and police from operating on its soil, and to prevent advanced American surveillance technology from falling under the control of Mexican security agencies with long histories of corruption.

“A sea change has occurred over the past years in how effective Mexico and U.S. intelligence exchanges have become,” said Arturo Sarukhán, Mexico’s ambassador to the United States. “It is underpinned by the understanding that transnational organized crime can only be successfully confronted by working hand in hand, and that the outcome is as simple as it is compelling: we will together succeed or together fail.”

The latest steps come three years after the United States began increasing its security assistance to Mexico with the $1.4 billion Merida Initiative and tens of millions of dollars from the Defense Department. They also come a year before elections in both countries, when President Obama may confront questions about the threat of violence spilling over the border, and President Felipe Calderón’s political party faces a Mexican electorate that is almost certainly going to ask why it should stick with a fight that has left nearly 45,000 people dead.

“The pressure is going to be especially strong in Mexico, where I expect there will be a lot more raids, a lot more arrests and a lot more parading drug traffickers in front of cameras,” said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a counternarcotics expert at the Brookings Institution. “But I would also expect a lot of questioning of Merida, and some people asking about the way the money is spent, or demanding that the government send it back to the gringos.”

Mexico has become ground zero in the American counternarcotics fight since its cartels have cornered the market and are responsible for more than 80 percent of the drugs that enter the United States. American counternarcotics assistance there has grown faster in recent years than to Afghanistan and Colombia. And in the last three years, officials said, exchanges of intelligence between the United States and Mexico have helped security forces there capture or kill some 30 mid- to high-level drug traffickers, compared with just two such arrests in the previous five years.

The United States has trained nearly 4,500 new federal police agents and assisted in conducting wiretaps, running informants and interrogating suspects. The Pentagon has provided sophisticated equipment, including Black Hawk helicopters, and in recent months it has begun flying unarmed surveillance drones over Mexican soil to track drug kingpins.

Still, it is hard to say much real progress has been made in crippling the brutal cartels or stemming the flow of drugs and guns across the border. Mexico’s justice system remains so weakened by corruption that even the most notorious criminals have not been successfully prosecuted.

“The government has argued that the number of deaths in Mexico is proof positive that the strategy is working and that the cartels are being weakened,” said Nik Steinberg, a specialist on Mexico at Human Rights Watch. “But the data is indisputable — the violence is increasing, human rights abuses have skyrocketed and accountability both for officials who commit abuses and alleged criminals is at rock bottom.”

Mexican and American officials involved in the fight against organized crime do not see it that way. They say the efforts begun under President Obama are only a few years old, and that it is too soon for final judgments. Dan Restrepo, Mr. Obama’s senior Latin American adviser, refused to talk about operational changes in the security relationship, but said, “I think we are in a fundamentally different place than we were three years ago.”

A senior Mexican official, speaking on condition of anonymity, agreed. “This is the game-changer in degrading transnational organized crime,” he said, adding: “It can’t be a two-, three-, four-, five- or six-year policy. For this policy investment to work, it has to be sustained long-term.”

Several Mexican and American security analysts compared the challenges of helping Mexico rebuild its security forces and civil institutions — crippled by more than seven decades under authoritarian rule — to similar tests in Afghanistan. They see the United States fighting alongside a partner it needs but does not completely trust.

Though the new United States ambassador to Mexico was plucked from an assignment in Kabul, Afghanistan, the Obama administration bristles at such comparisons, saying Mexico’s growing economy and functioning, though fragile, institutions put it far ahead of Afghanistan. Instead, administration officials more frequently compare Mexico’s struggle to the one Colombia began some 15 years ago.

Among the most important lessons they have learned, they say, is that in almost any fight against organized crime, things tend to get worse before they get better.

When violence spiked last year around Mexico’s industrial capital, Monterrey, Mr. Calderón’s government asked the United States for more access to sophisticated surveillance technology and expertise. After months of negotiations, the United States established an intelligence post on a northern Mexican military base, moving Washington beyond its traditional role of sharing information to being more directly involved in gathering it.

American officials declined to provide details about the work being done by the American team of fewer than two dozen Drug Enforcement Administration agents, C.I.A. officials and retired military personnel members from the Pentagon’s Northern Command. For security reasons, they asked The New York Times not to disclose the location of the compound.

But the officials said the compound had been modeled after “fusion intelligence centers” that the United States operates in Iraq and Afghanistan to monitor insurgent groups, and that the United States would strictly play a supporting role.

“The Mexicans are in charge," said one American military official. “It’s their show. We’re all about technical support.”

The two countries have worked in lock step on numerous high-profile operations, including the continuing investigation of the February murder of Jaime J. Zapata, an American Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

Mexico’s federal police chief, Genaro García Luna, put a helicopter in the air within five minutes after receiving a call for help from Mr. Zapata’s partner, the authorities said. Then he invited American officials to the police intelligence center — an underground location known as “the bunker” — to work directly with Mexican security forces in tracking down the suspects.

Mexican officials hand-carried shell casings recovered from the scene of the shooting to Washington for forensics tests, allowed American officials to conduct their own autopsy of the agent’s body and shipped the agent’s bullet-battered car to the United States for inspection.

In another operation last week, the Drug Enforcement Administration and a Mexican counternarcotics police unit collaborated on an operation that led to the arrest of José Antonio Hernández Acosta, a suspected drug trafficker. The authorities believe he is responsible for hundreds of deaths in the border city of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, including the murders of two Americans employed at the United States Consulate there.

While D.E.A. field officers were not on the scene — the Mexicans still draw the line at that — the Americans helped develop tips and were in contact with the Mexican unit almost every minute of the five-hour manhunt, according to a senior American official in Mexico. The unit, of about 50 officers, is the focus of another potentially ground-breaking plan that has not yet won approval. Several former D.E.A. officials said the two countries were considering a proposal to embed a group of private security contractors — including retired D.E.A. agents and former Special Forces officers — inside the unit to conduct an on-the-job training academy that would offer guidance in conducting operations so that suspects can be successfully taken to court. Mexican prosecutors would also work with the unit, the Americans said.

But a former American law enforcement official familiar with the unit described it as one good apple in a barrel of bad ones. He said it was based on a compound with dozens of other nonvetted officers, who provided a window on the challenges that the Mexican police continue to face.

Some of the officers had not been issued weapons, and those who had guns had not been properly trained to use them. They were required to pay for their helmets and bulletproof vests out of their own pockets. And during an intense gun battle against one of Mexico’s most vicious cartels, they had to communicate with one another on their cellphones because they had not been issued police radios. “It’s sort of shocking,” said Eric Olson of the Woodrow Wilson Center. “Mexico is just now learning how to fight crime in the midst of a major crime wave. It’s like trying to saddle your horse while running the Kentucky Derby.”

@diablotakahe, If you mean

@diablotakahe,

If you mean Vanguard, Yes.

There was also another step after the Tea Party, Sons Of Liberty, and the failure to reach a Parliamentary solution with a distant, incompetent uncaring Crown.

The interests of the American people and the American Government/Ruling Class are diametrically opposed, and we're all out of money to include credit. It's them or us.

Actually, Elf, now I'm

Actually, Elf, now I'm wondering about the details myself.

***

Comment by diablotakahe on August 11, 2011 - 7:37am
the tea party aren't socialists. they're leninists.

I tend to identify leninology.blogspot as the leninists; it's interesting to think of the luminaries who post there as being 'some' leninsts, members of a group that also would include Elf. That thought brought a shiver; hence the gratitude.